Deputy Head of Kherson Emergency Service sent to jail for corruption

The court imposed a pre-trial restraint on two officials suspected of extortion. One of them is the deputy head of the Kherson regional municipal emergency service.

According to the press service of the Central District Court in Mykolaiv, he and an unidentified employee of the Civil Protection Department of the Kherson Regional Military Administration extorted money from a contractor who had signed a contract to install an autonomous power source in a hospital.

They demanded 10% of the contract amount, which was 199 thousand hryvnias. The officials threatened the entrepreneur that if he refused, he would not be able to continue his activities in Kherson and the region. The entrepreneur handed over the money in two tranches after completing part of the work. The suspect stated that the money was allegedly just given to him, but he did not expect it and intended to call the entrepreneur later to ask about the purpose of the funds.

The second suspect is the head of a Kherson construction company. He offered the other entrepreneur to help him conclude an agreement with Khersonteploenergo for the construction of cable networks. In return, he demanded 22.5% of the contract amount, which amounted to UAH 572 thousand.

Both suspects pleaded not guilty. During the court hearing, their defense lawyers stated that the suspicions were groundless and the risks had not been proven. The court, however, decided to impose a pre-trial restraint in the form of detention with the possibility of bail in the amount of UAH 908,400 for each of the suspects.

Meanwhile, in Kherson region, an investigation into two members of an organized group who extorted money from drivers of overloaded trucks has been completed

Ірина Глухова